Tapputi

Tappūtī-Bēlet-Ekallim (lit. 'Assistant of the Lady of the Palace')} is one of the world's first recorded chemists.

She was a perfumer active in Assur during the reign of Tukulti-Ninurta I. As mentioned in a cuneiform tablet dated around 1200 BC, she used flowers, oil, and calamus along with cyperus, myrrh, and balsam, which after adding water and other solvents were distilled and filtered several times.

Tapputi was the head of a group of professional female perfumers and also was an overseer at the Royal Palace. She worked with someone named (—)-ninu (the first part of her name has been lost).

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ The 'Lady of the Palace' referenced is the goddess Bēlet-Ekalli.

References

  1. 1 2 McBride, Nuri (22 July 2022). "Tappūtī-Bēlet-ekallim: The First Perfumer?". Death Scent.
  2. ↑ Levey 1973, p. 9, note 1: "The earliest chemist known by name is thus a woman."
  3. 1 2 3 H Wills et al (Eds.), Women in the History of Science: A sourcebook. UCL Press, 2023, p.15
  4. ↑ Gabriele Kass-Simon; Patricia Farnes; Deborah Nash, eds. (1999). Women of Science: Righting the Record (First Midland Book ed.). Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana Univ. Press. p. 301. ISBN 9780253208132.
  5. ↑ Levey, Martin (1973). Early Arabic Pharmacology: An Introduction Based on Ancient and Medieval Sources. Brill Archive. pp. 8–9. ISBN 90-04-03796-9.
  6. ↑ Rayner-Canham, Marelene, and Geoffrey Rayner-Canham. Women in Chemistry: Their Changing Roles from Alchemical Times to the Mid-Twentieth Century. First edition. Chemical Heritage Foundation, 9 June 2005. 1. Print.